Latest Kids Count’ report a mixed bag

A report released Thursday shows Illinois has made some progress when it comes to its children’s health, but minority and low-income children are still at higher risk.

According to the Illinois Kids Count 2014 report published by Voices for Illinois Children, fewer kids are uninsured, and overall infant mortality and teen death rates have continued trending downward.

But the report also found that minority infants are more likely to be born at lower birth weights, infant mortality rates are higher among minorities, and overall child poverty rates in the state have risen.

Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, a longtime advocate for health issues, said success with Medicaid and the All Kids programs has resulted in only 3.4 percent of children in the state without health insurance. That rate is fifth lowest in the U.S.

Infant mortality rates in Illinois have dropped from 10.7 to 6.8 deaths per 1,000 births between 1990 and 2010. There were 483 teens aged 15-19 who died as a result of accident, suicide, homicide or other causes in 2010 compared to 823 deaths in 1994.

While the progress in these categories is heartening, the report also cites significant differences in health outcomes for children from different racial and economic backgrounds.

“There are wide health-related disparities between Illinois children in low-income families and families with higher incomes,” Gabel said. “Children from low-income families are less likely to receive comprehensive, coordinated medical care.”

One statistic that stood out to her was the childhood obesity rate — 46 percent of kids in low-income families are obese, compared to 26 percent of all other children, the report found.

Other worrying statistics include low birth weights and high infant mortality rates among blacks and an overall increase in the number of children in poverty.

The report states that year over year, low birth weight rates among blacks have consistently been almost twice that of either whites or Latinos.

Infant mortality rates among blacks in Illinois stood at 13.6 percent in 2010, compared to 6.2 percent among Latinos, 4.9 percent among whites and 4.6 percent among Asians.

Overall, 20.7 percent of children in Illinois were in poverty in 2012 compared to 14.6 percent in 2000. From 2010 to 2012, 43.6 percent of black children were in poverty compared to 28 percent of Latino children and 10.8 percent of white children.

Lawmakers said the data in the report is valuable in evaluating the success — or failure — of programs.

“As a legislator, I really look forward to the release of this report each year,” Gabel said. “It really helps us figure out which of our policies are working and which policies are not working.”

Voices president Gaylord Gieske said in a statement that fostering healthier development of children and strengthening communities can be accomplished by “expanding quality learning, school health centers and afterschool programs.”

Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Round Lake Beach, said the report can assist the General Assembly in making budget decisions.

“Many of our efforts to reduce disparities in children’s health depend on the state’s financial health,” Yingling said. “That’s something we have seen in the aftermath of the Great Recession. We’ve seen budget cuts really hurt low-income families and their access to health plans and services.”

Data found in the report is available online at datacenter.kidscount.org/data#IL.